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Iron Flesh Warband
The Iron Flesh warband is a hybrid organization of Iron Warriors in sworn service to the Dark Mechanicum. Rising in the wake of the terrible Horus Heresy, this faction of Heretic Space Marines frantically delvs into the new ways opened to them by the warp-spawned taint of the Schism of Mars. Warband History Born from the technically inclined Warsmiths of the Fourth Legion and the Warpsmiths they would become, these technically inclined warriors would have at one time, found mirrored purpose and identity in their cousins, the Iron Hands. Inculcated so, the warband has come under the sway of the Dark Mechanicum in its entirety, and led by the Chaos Lord Maleki the Mad; a Tech Priest of Mars in a past life. When the Vaults of Moravec were opened and the scrapcode flooded across Mars, Maleki did not break or disassociate into corrupted babbling. Instead, this fallen priest assimilated the code, and through it heard the whispers of the Ruinous Powers. As a missionary of sorts, he has promulgated to his followers a vision towards enlightenment, that the pursuit of technology and knowledge is a means to an end. Through the study of the Eldar's alien technologies and history, the evidence was clear that actions may give birth to a god. Through warp based technology and the sacrifice of trillions, a new chaos god could rise, a true Omnissiah. The Legion Techmarines he once tutored became warpsmiths, and these technological officers brought the Iron Warriors to him, finding new acolytes in the willing Space Marines who through battlefield victories, only strengthened his warband, and in time, ascend to Daemonhood. The power of the warband reached its peak after uncovering the world of Croissance in 794.M41, the knight world of House Dumontine in the Ensante in Segmentum Pacificus. Seeing opportunity, the heretics descended upon the worlds of that system and wreaked horrific destruction before assaulting the knight world itself. A long and drawn out battle would drag on, inflicting great casualties, but worth it for the prize. Over a dozen Knight Suits were captured and salvaged, their pilots tortured, twisted, corrupted, and in some cases possessed. The Iron Conclave was formed, and ravaged their once brethren. The victory would have been complete if not for the intervention of the armies of Forge Hephaestia, who had answered the distress call of the world. Through their intervention, the remaining knights would be saved and limited population evacuated, denying the heretics their final prize and resulting in eventual exterminatus of that blighted world. The warband would find a great and eternal foe in the Forge, following them through the Segmentums until they came to haunt the distant reaches of the Segmentum Obscurus, striking at the expeditionary forces of the Forge, striking down allies, capturing vast stocks of supply and wargear, and suffering great defeats which would leave them, at times, critically depleted, but alive, and eternally dedicated to the destruction of the servants of the false Omnissiah, and the birth of the true embodiment of technology. Notable Involvements * 792.M41: Destruction of House Dumontine – The greatest victory of the Iron Flesh warband was the addition of Knight Suits to their forces. Taken from this once proud world, the onslaught of daemonic technologies, traitor astartes, and Dark Mechanicum soldiery would grind down this world, eventually forcing evacuation and self destruction. This tremendous boost to their power has had rippling effects across the domains of the Machine God. * 000.M42: Invasion of the Aglaean System – As the clock ticked forward into the 42nd millennium, the Iron Flesh cultists capitalized upon the tide of traitors flooding from the Eye to wreak a terrible vengeance upon the Forge World of Hephaestia, who found itself besieged by a colossal force of heretic astartes, traitor guardsmen, and corrupted knights. Burning with all speed towards the isolated forge, their initial incursions were met with fierce resistance as the forces of Hephaestia engaged them in space. Colossal Void-Kraken would claim dozens of traitor ships and graviton pulsars would collapse space hulks into singularities to tear through the fleets before dissipating in flashes of gamma radiation. The Iron Flesh, along with their allies in the Black Legion, Death Guard, and Traitoris Titanicus would make their landing upon the Forge World itself and fierce battle would rage there for months, looting tremendous stockpile of laser weaponry, cybernetics, and other wargear. Throughout the system, they made war across orbital battlestations, research habitats, and conduct devastating boarding actions which would leaves whole swaths of the defensive lines ruined as the Dead Scar. The true ultimate battle for the system would occur upon the inner world of Momus, the new world of their once target, of House Dumontine, now slaved to the Forge which had saved them. Suffering great losses as they fought for every step of ground, the corrupted knights of the warband would descend in true earnest unto the Mechanicum positions, desperate to recover the prized Cerastus Knight suits of the House, but would be thrown back once more. Their prize denied once more, and a trade of sorts made; several of their knights in exchange for a select few new ones upgraded with much needed tech. While broadly pushed back, the Iron Flesh would lick its wounds and rebuild, flush with captured munitions, technology, and slaves. The damage they inflicted to the forge was catastrophic, and the loss of war material and food product would see millions of menials starved over the next decade, and just as many Imperial Soldiers go without desperately needed support from the forge as its power waned. * 115.M42: The Debasement of Corellius – In their dogged hounding of Forge Hephaestia, the splinters of the warband came together in earnest to follow the stuttering fleets of the Forge towards their goal of recontacting allies. Finding the Grandus System teetering on the bring of collapse, the Forge did find what it wanted, but the Iron Flesh did. Finding allies in the fallen House of Leitdorf, they traded support in exhange for the hoards of alien technology the House held; attained in trades or black market deals or smuggling. Maleki himself came forth from the warp amidst the chaos to lead his disciples, being pushed back by Imperial Forces, bested by fragments of the Custodian Guard, finding strange allies in Harlequins, and suffering and gaining favor and disfavor in the eyes of the gods. He would find his end as the forces of chaos, broadly led by the ascended followers of Slaanesh, sought to corrupt the planet into a Daemon World. In the end, the ritual catastrophically failed, detonating, and wreaking near total destruction upon the Iron Flesh's forces who had traveled to the system and casting Maleki back into the warp for a standard century and a day. His hated foes of Hephaestia suffered similarly, but to his great displeasure, the priesthood and fragments of their armies managed to escape, leading the warband to try and chase down the forge in future. With mixed results. Notable Members of the Iron Flesh * Maleki the Mad: An emissary of what he believes to be the true powers of knowledge, this once tech-priest is a master of Daemonic Technology such that with a gesture, he may override unpotected Machine Spirits to bind them into his servitude. His great knowledge of warp born and alien technology sees mechanical fiends without number crawl forth from his forge pits. * Wyrth the Warpsmith: A once techmarine of noble origins, since fallen to chaos, architect of the Technoviruses. * Victus the Vindictive: A former Warsmith of the Iron Warriors, now an acolyte of Maleki.